Part 25 (1/2)

”The danger ht the boo I'll disround, he drew his pistol and moved forward silently

Scarcely had he taken a dozen steps than he realized the cause of his ness to proceed further

He was in a bed of quicksand

Anybody who knohat a bed of quicksand is kno dangerous it is--dangerous to both man and beast Just as the scout made his discovery he sank up to his knees in the et back out of this, and in double-quick order,” heup to his waist

pawnee Broas now fully alive to the grave peril of his situation

He tried by all the strength at his coround froe a foot True, he took one step, but it was only to sink in deeper than ever

Several reat anxiety passed He had sunk very nearly up to his armpits

Quarter of an hour more and he would be up to his head, and then----?

Brave as he was, the great scout did not dare to think further The idea of a death in the treacherous quicksand was truly horrible

His friends would wonder what had become of him, but it was not likely that they would ever find his body

And even faithful Bonnie Bird would be du the particulars of her master's disappearance was concerned

The e of the quicksands, fifteen feet off, whining anxiously She kneell as though she had been a hu

Suddenly an inspiration came to pawnee Brown

”How foolish!+ Why didn't I think of that before?” hea lariat, placed there when the wagon train started, in case any of the animals should attempt to run off in the darkness

The boomer could use a lariat as well as Cle at full speed upon his mare, he had thrown the noose around any foot of a steer that was selected by those looking on

He put his hand down to his waist and felt for the lariat It was still there, and he brought it up and swung it over his head, to free it from the quicksand

As has been stated, the belt of ti less than fifty feet fro the lariat, he threw the noose up and away froh the air and fell over the nearest branch of the tree

Hauling it taut, pawnee Brown tested it, to an to haul himself up, as Rasco had done at the swamp hole

It was sloork, and reat was the strain put upon it

But it held, and a few minutes later pawnee Brown found himself with somewhat cut hands, safe in the branches of the tree

Winding up the lariat, he descended to the ground, and , and to where he had cast his pistol